Do You Delegate?

By Anthony J. Lease

Superintendents today are charged with greater accountability than ever, which can be viewed as a two-edged sword. On the positive edge, they pay much more attention to making sure academic goals are met. On the negative, however, they are increasingly reluctant to entrust others to carry out tasks that affect the district’s overall success.

They sometimes take accountability to the extreme, doing tasks themselves because they worry about their employees making mistakes.

The art of delegation, once held as a key skill for successful leadership, seems to be waning. Superintendents may take on tasks that they should be delegating, encroaching upon time to concentrate on the big picture.

The thinking that “I must do it myself to assure it is done correctly” is becoming more common, but the fallout from this thinking could have dire consequences for the superintendent seeking to meet accountability measures.